Proxtera and Tazapay have teamed up to roll out Proxtera Protect, powered by Tazapay, to offer global purchasers and vendors a “secure and protected” payment service to simplify international trade, according to a Wednesday (Feb. 24) announcement.
Tazapay is an online escrow service for international trade, while Proxtera is a network of business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces that supports international trade for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“With the addition of trusted partners such as Tazapay, Proxtera can deliver on its promise to provide SMEs a wealth of business tools and opportunities at their fingertips, opening up pathways to growth and driving economic recovery to help businesses thrive in the ‘new normal,’” Shirish Jain, program director at Proxtera, said in the announcement.
Tazapay will offer an online escrow service for purchasers and vendors linked through participating platforms on the Proxtera network in partnership with Proxtera. As it stands, a number of companies harness Proxtera to find new trade partners and link up to talk about, negotiate and solidify trade terms.
The trading corridor between India and Singapore is the first corridor to be activated for Proxtera Protect.
“We’re pleased to power Proxtera Protect and grow alongside Proxtera as both entities focus on their missions to elevate the local economy by empowering SMEs with global trade opportunities,” Tazapay Chief Executive Rahul Shinghal said in the announcement.
As previously reported, small- to medium-sized business (SMB) purchasers and vendors are encountering fewer barriers to entering the market because of the rise of online marketplaces and eCommerce-as-a-Service technology offerings.
But international trade is a complex operation. SMBs encounter the same headaches that bigger enterprises do when growing internationally — yet often don’t have the resources to surmount them.
At the core of many these issues is trust — or lack thereof, according to Shinghal. He previously told PYMNTS that this trust deficit creates particularly large pain points in an already complex B2B payment process.